In general, the present invention relates to an electronic system, hardware, and method for tracking the location of files and their containers. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electronic file tracking system that maintains a database identifying each file and its current location by interactive communication between a computer processor and the file folders. The invention is particularly adapted for use with office furniture.
In a typical office environment, files are normally stored in various file cabinets located throughout the office. Each file cabinet or group of file cabinets stores files belonging to a particular category. These files are typically organized in an alphabetical or numerical order within the drawers of the file cabinet or group of file cabinets. Files may also be stored on or in various shelving units, trays, boxes, work surfaces, bins, compartments, tables, desk drawers, or carts. In order to make these files accessible to all office personnel, the files must be stored in an organized manner. Office personnel expend a substantial amount of time retrieving files, replacing files back into the file cabinets, and maintaining the organization of the files.
When someone wishes to obtain a particular file, he or she must determine in which office, which file cabinet, and which drawer of the file cabinet the file is supposed to be located. If the person looking for the file does not know the location of the file first hand, he or she must make inquiries to the other employees or check a manually maintained listing of the file organization to locate the file. Once this person identifies where the file is supposed to be located, the person must search through the numerous files stored in the drawer to determine if the file is actually located in the drawer. In searching through the file cabinet drawer, this person may discover that the file is not located where it was supposed to be. The person must then again inquire about the office to determine if someone else has the file and, if no one else has the file, this person must search through other file drawers to determine if the file is misfiled or lost. Active files tend to become stacked on the desktops of the employees most recently using those particular files, leading to poor accessibility for others. Clearly, tracking down a file may consume a significant portion of an employee's time and any time spent looking for or reorganizing files is an inefficient use of that employee's time.
To maintain an organized system, when someone must add a number of new files to a particular drawer of a file cabinet that is already filled to capacity, he or she must shift those files in the back of the drawer to another drawer, which may also be filled to capacity. Further, whenever a sequential ordering scheme is used to organize files, even frequently accessed files may be dispersed throughout a number of drawers rather than in the front of a single file drawer where the frequently accessed files would be more easily accessible.
The above problems are particularly prevalent in hospitals, doctor's offices, law offices, government agencies, and anywhere else where large amounts of printed documents or other media are handled and maintained.
One approach that was developed to alleviate some of the above problems in tracking files is to provide a bar code label on each file folder and to maintain a database correlating the bar code I.D. of the file and its relative location. In order to accurately maintain the file locations in the database, bar code readers are placed about the office for employees to scan the bar code and enter a new location whenever the employees move a file from one location to another.
The problem with this approach is its reliance upon the employees to take the time to scan the bar code and enter user and location identification information into the database every time an employee pulls a file out of a file drawer or off a shelf. Furthermore, the database may only identify the general location of the file, which may be a location where many other files are also located. Thus, although someone looking for a file may know its general location, this person may spend considerable time trying to locate the file amongst the numerous other files, particularly if the file is misfiled. Additionally, not all possible locations and potential users of the files may be identified within the database. Thus, the database may not accurately reflect the exact location of a file.